A momentary stiffness crossed Qin Ye’s face, but it soon returned to its usual coldness and detachment.
“Yun Si, do you think I’m that easy to deceive?”
Back then, she had been willing to die with him rather than remain married to him. That alone showed how much she had hated him. In just over a month, even if she had learned that what happened to the Marquis’s Residence had not been his doing, it was impossible for her to undergo such a drastic change.
“Since I have already agreed to the marital separation, you may leave without worry. I have no need for your compensation either.”
“Qin Ye…”
“There is no need to say anything more.”
Yun Si gave a bitter smile.
She suddenly felt an overwhelming helplessness. She wanted to explain, yet could not make herself understood.
Forget it.
She had wounded Qin Ye’s heart so deeply. How could she possibly coax him back with just a few words?
She would have to take things slowly.
As long as he did not drive her away, everything could be discussed.
Yun Si returned to Qixiwu Court.
Several days passed in succession. Qin Ye did not drive Yun Si out of the residence, but neither did he ever come to see her.
Qixiwu Court had originally been an estate reserved for the Princess Consort. On the day Yun Si returned, Qin Ye had carried her back there himself. Now that she was no longer the Princess Consort, Qin Ye still had not asked her to move elsewhere.
Thus, Yun Si settled down in Qixiwu Court without worry.
After settling in, she carefully sorted through her memories of her previous life, as well as some useful information she had gathered during the five years her soul had been trapped by Qin Ye after her death.
Yun Si had been born prematurely.
From the moment she was born, she had been the most honored legitimate eldest daughter of the Yongyi Marquis’s Residence.
Her maternal grandfather was the richest man in Jiangnan. Her parents had been deeply in love, and her father had loved only her mother his entire life. Together, they had three children: two elder brothers and one daughter. As the only girl in the family, she had been doted upon by everyone from the moment she was born.
Moreover, she had displayed an astonishing and unusual talent from a young age. She learned everything quickly, often seeming to understand things without instruction.
Unfortunately, her health was terribly weak. She was frequently sickly and listless, and although she wanted to learn many things, she often lacked the energy to do so.
Her social relationships were as poor as her health.
She did not know why, but the young ladies around her all seemed to hate her, while the young masters avoided her as though she were a plague.
Only Shen Qian was different.
Shen Qian often came to the residence to visit her. Whenever she was too ill to go out, he would bring her many fresh and interesting things. Whenever she was isolated and mocked as a sickly wretch, he would stand up to protect her and tell her not to pay attention to those people. He would always be there for her.
Gradually, Yun Si came to regard Shen Qian as her only friend.
“My lady.”
Lu Yu entered from outside, interrupting Yun Si’s memories. “Young Master Shen has arrived.”
Shen Qian had come?
After so many days, he had finally come looking for her!
The corners of Yun Si’s crimson lips slowly curled into a bloodthirsty arc.
…
In front of Prince Xiao’s Residence.
Shen Qian wore a moon-white brocade robe, its flowing-cloud patterns embroidered in concealed silver thread appearing and vanishing with his movements.
His black hair was secured with a jade crown. Tall and straight, he possessed the refined elegance and noble bearing of a young master from an aristocratic family in every gesture.
He stood before the residence gates. No one knew that beneath his warm and courteous exterior lay a cold and hypocritical heart.
That night, a fire had broken out at the secondary residence, reducing everything to ashes.
The Shen Family had suffered not only severe financial losses; many important secret letters had also been burned. Shen Qian had been furious. It was only after he had dealt with the aftermath that he discovered Yun Si had disappeared.
There had been no sign of her alive or dead.
He had sent people to search for her for a long time. He had never expected Yun Si to return to Prince Xiao’s Residence on her own.
He had to find out exactly what was going on.
Could Yun Si have discovered something?
Otherwise, why would she suddenly run back to Prince Xiao’s Residence?
The fire that night had also been exceedingly suspicious.
Shen Qian waited outside the residence for nearly half an hour. He did not see Yun Si come out. Instead, Prince Xiao’s carriage returned from outside and slowly stopped before the gates.
Qin Ye stepped down from the carriage.
When he saw Shen Qian, he had not yet spoken when he noticed Yun Si emerging from the residence.
He gave a cold, slight curl of his lips.
It was difficult to tell whether it was mockery or sarcasm.
Shen Qian approached first and bowed with cupped hands. “Prince Xiao, since you and A-Si have already undergone a marital separation, I ask that you show her mercy and let her go. You should let yourself go as well.”
“Your Highness.”
The air around Qin Ye suddenly turned icy. Yun Si hurried over and reached out to hook one finger around his. “I want to speak with him alone for a few words.”
She raised her head and gazed at him with limpid eyes, as if seeking his opinion. “May I?”
Qin Ye’s body stiffened slightly.
The instant her finger gently hooked around his, it felt as though a feather had brushed lightly across his heart.
The Yun Si of the past had never taken the initiative to approach Qin Ye, much less spoken to him so gently.
Qin Ye lowered his eyes to look at Yun Si.
The breeze stirred her hair, and a faint, delicate fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose. Emotions he could not even describe himself churned within his chest.
“Do as you wish.”
After a long while, Yun Si finally heard Qin Ye’s voice. It was so indifferent that he sounded as though the matter had nothing to do with him.
His dark, wide sleeve brushed across the back of Yun Si’s hand. He imperceptibly tightened his palm, then turned away, deliberately slowing his steps.
From the corner of his eye, he caught the subtle change in Shen Qian’s expression. An uncontrollable trace of satisfaction rose in his heart, only to be swiftly replaced by self-mockery.
Yun Si waited until Qin Ye had gone far away before withdrawing her gaze.
She could not help sighing inwardly.
The road to winning back her husband’s heart was indeed long and difficult.
“A-Si.”
Shen Qian looked at Yun Si with a gloomy gaze. When she turned toward him, his eyes immediately became gentle and worried.
“Why did you leave without saying a word? When the secondary residence suddenly caught fire, do you know how worried I was about you?”
“Worried about me?”
A lifetime had passed since she had last seen Shen Qian. The instant she saw him again, an intense hatred swept through her entire body.
Yun Si’s fingers clenched slightly.
She forcibly calmed herself and looked at him with a bright smile. “As you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
“It’s good that you’re all right.”
Shen Qian stepped forward and reached for Yun Si’s hand, but she deftly avoided him.
His hand froze in midair, while doubts multiplied in his heart. “A-Si, you finally escaped from Prince Xiao. Why did you come back? Could it be… that I did something wrong and made you unhappy?”
“What foolish thing are you saying?”
Yun Si smiled faintly. “How could you have done anything wrong?” Suddenly, her voice turned cold. “The ones in the wrong are those who framed my entire family!”
“Then why did you return to Prince Xiao’s Residence?”
Yun Si’s attitude toward Prince Xiao just now had been entirely different from before.
For a moment, Shen Qian could not see through her. He had no idea what had gone wrong to make her suddenly behave so strangely.
“Did Prince Xiao do something? Is he threatening you?”
“What could I possibly have left for him to threaten me with?”
Yun Si lightly touched his sleeve, as though soothing him. “I returned to Prince Xiao’s Residence to find evidence that he framed the Marquis’s Residence. Once I find it, I’ll find a way to leave.”
“Why do you suddenly want to find evidence?”
Shen Qian vaguely sensed that something was wrong. He looked at her heavily. “You don’t believe me?”
“Of course I believe you.”
Without revealing anything in her expression, Yun Si replied calmly, “But what use is my believing you? Without evidence, my parents will never return. How am I supposed to avenge them?”
“You… want revenge?”
“Of course!”
Those two decisive words caused Shen Qian’s expression to freeze slightly.
“But…”
“All right. This is Prince Xiao’s Residence. It would look improper if people saw us speaking alone, and that wouldn’t be good for my search for evidence. Don’t worry. Once I find the evidence, I’ll make him taste… the pain and despair he inflicted on us.”
Yun Si was clearly referring to Prince Xiao when she said “him,” but when Shen Qian heard those words, he inexplicably felt a trace of discomfort.
After speaking, Yun Si gave him no chance to ask further questions. She turned and walked into the residence.
Shen Qian grabbed her by the arm. When she looked back, his scrutinizing and suspicious gaze lingered on her face for a moment before he spoke in a low voice.
“Everything at the secondary residence was burned to ashes. I found only this outside the lakeside pavilion in the study. Don’t you want it anymore?”
Yun Si lowered her head and glanced at it. It was a piece of white jade.
The token of affection Shen Qian had given her.
When she had undergone the marital separation with Qin Ye, this was the only thing she had taken with her.
When she was fifteen, her mother had taken her to Jiangnan to visit her maternal grandfather’s family. One day, an accident had left her trapped in a mountain cave by a torrential rainstorm.
She had been drenched and had hovered between life and death. For several days, she had burned with a high fever, her body alternating between chills and heat. In her hazy state, she had known that a little brother was taking care of her—feeding her water, holding her to warm her when she was cold, and wiping her down to cool her when she was feverish. Through his tireless care, he had snatched her back from the hands of death.
Only after she regained consciousness had she seen clearly that the little brother who had cared for her was Shen Qian.
After that incident, the Marquis’s Residence had arranged a marriage with the Shen Family. Shen Qian had given her his personal jade pendant and promised that, in two years, once Yun Si’s health had improved, he would marry her and bring her into his household.
But no one had expected Qin Ye to intervene.
Yun Si looked at the jade pendant Shen Qian held out to her. Once, it had been the thing she cherished most. But now, seeing it again only made her feel physically ill.
She wanted to vomit.
“How could I not want it? I must have lost it by accident. Luckily, you found it.”
She accepted the jade pendant and said to Shen Qian, “I’ll keep it forever.”
She would keep it as a constant reminder of how foolish she had been in her previous life.
Shen Qian stared intently at Yun Si’s face. He did not notice any unusual change in her expression. Slowly, he smiled, though the smile did not reach his eyes.
“Good. Be careful in everything while you search for the evidence. If you discover anything, remember to tell me immediately.”
Yun Si nodded, then left without looking back.
Shen Qian watched her retreating figure, his gaze gradually turning cold.
He turned and ordered the attendant accompanying him, “Investigate. Find out when she left on the night the secondary residence caught fire, and whether she met anyone before leaving.”
Within the prince’s residence.
Yun Si walked to a pavilion to rest and casually placed the jade pendant on the stone table.
Thinking back to her previous life, it had taken Qin Ye five years to uproot the Shen Family completely. In this life, how could she possibly deal with Shen Qian on her own?
The Shen Family was a centuries-old aristocratic clan. More than half of its members held official positions at court. Shen Qian himself had become a fourth-rank Vice Minister of the Ministry of War at a young age. Let alone her—even Qin Ye, now a prince of the blood, had no way to contend with him.
Most crucially, there was her ruined body…
Yun Si suddenly remembered something, and her eyes brightened slightly.
The year she had returned to the capital after visiting her maternal grandfather’s family, an eminent wanderer had passed by the Marquis’s Residence. He had said that he was fated to meet her and wished to accept her as his disciple, teaching her medicine and various other skills. She had been very interested and had studied under him for several days.
Her master had praised her intelligence and talent, saying that she learned everything quickly. Unfortunately, her health was too poor, so he had told her to study medicine first. Once she had learned it, she would be able to regulate her body herself.
But Shen Qian had told her that the eminent man was nothing more than a charlatan who wanted to freeload at the Marquis’s Residence, and that she should not believe him.
At that time, Shen Qian was already her fiancé. She trusted and relied on him more than ever. Although she had instinctively felt that her master did not seem like a fraud, she had still agreed to drive him away so that Shen Qian would not be unhappy.
She had truly been out of her mind back then. She would rather believe someone else than trust herself.
After that, she had never seen her master again.
Until a few days after her death, when something strange had happened.
Her soul had followed Qin Ye outside. As they passed the front of Yongyi Marquis Residence, she had seen a familiar figure enter through the gates.
Qin Ye might not have noticed, but she had seen it clearly. That person was the master she had driven away all those years ago.
She did not know whether it had been an illusion, but her master had paused at the entrance and turned to glance at their carriage.
At the time, she had been sitting on the roof of the carriage. The feeling she had gotten from that glance was that her master could somehow see her. Afterward, he had entered the gates of the Marquis’s Residence.
She had hurried after him and watched as he went directly into the boudoir where she had once lived.
However, her soul could not stray too far from Qin Ye, so she had not seen what her master did after entering her room.
Could he have left something for her?
Judging by the timing, it should have happened within the next few days. She had been muddleheaded then and could not remember the exact day.
In her previous life, her master had come only after she had died. She did not know whether she and her master would have the fate to meet again in this life.
It seemed she needed to find a time to return home and see whether her master had truly left something for her.
When Yun Si left the pavilion, she was still lost in her thoughts. The jade pendant was left forgotten and utterly alone on the stone table.
She did not realize that she had left it behind until she was almost back at Qixiwu Court. She then returned to retrieve it.
However, when she arrived at the pavilion and saw what had happened, she was dumbfounded.
There was no jade pendant on the stone table. There was only a pile of green powder!
A breeze swept past, scattering the powder in all directions. In an instant, it vanished into the world.
What…
Who had done this?